Trump travel ban bands take stage at SXSW music fest

South Sudanese-Canadian Emmanuel Jal among performers: 'Let us fight with love'

Kayem (C), who is Libyan-American, performs with Bassel and the Supernaturals at the ContraBanned showcase featuring artists representing countries included in U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order travel bans, at the South by Southwest music festival Saturday. (Brian Snyder/REUTERS)

Bands with diaspora from the Muslim-majority countries on U.S. President Donald Trump travel ban took to the stage in Austin to build resistance against executive orders critics see as perpetuating bigotry.

For many musicians in the ContraBanned showcase that went from Friday night to early Saturday at the South by Southwest music festival, the show put a human face on the countries that have become a focal point of current U.S. politics.

Ban has opened doors

"I understand the travel ban was done with the impression for securing a place of safety for Americans. I feel it is short-sighted and perpetuates the xenophobia that exists in this country," said Bassel Almadani, frontman and vocalist for the soul and funk band of Bassel & The Supernaturals.

Almadani, raised in the U.S. Midwest from parents born in Syria, has relatives who have given up hope on leaving the country ripped apart by a civil war due to Trump's proposed bans.

Bassel and the Supernaturals perform on stage in Austin, Texas. Frontman Bassel Almadani is first-generation Syrian-American and says he tries to use his music to raise awareness about the plight of Syrians. (Brian Snyder/REUTERS)

He has been trying to use his act to raise awareness about the six-year civil war that has set new standards of savagery in its impact on civilians, leaving an estimated half a million people dead. The Trump administration has said its executive orders are common sense approaches that will protect the American people.

Attention from the bans has opened the door for Almadani to play in places like churches in Kansas where congregants want to learn more.

"For a good five years there, I thought I was pulling teeth to get that conversation moving," Almadani said in an interview. "It wasn't until the immigration ban went into place that people became more intent on the issue and more supportive of the cause."